Serial Transit Groper Ordered to Register as Sex Offender

Linder's prior convictions involved groping female bus riders in North Hollywood, Hollywood, Mid-City, Culver City, Norwalk, West Los Angeles and Long Beach.

A Los Angeles man who has been convicted 10 times for groping women and girls on Metro buses and other public transportation lines was ordered Tuesday to stay away from all public transportation systems, undergo a one-year residential mental health counseling program and register as a sex offender for life.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria B. Wilson also ordered Ager Linder to serve 54 months on probation, along with a 364-day jail term that the 27-year-old man has already completed.

Linder pleaded no contest in December to three counts of sexual battery, two counts of child molestation and one count of battery on a public transportation passenger for groping five women and three girls, ranging in age from 15 to 27, on eight separate occasions while riding Metro buses through the Mid-City area between last May and August, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.

He would often pretend to be asleep and then grab a victim, according to prosecutors.

Linder was previously convicted in nine separate cases, as recently as January 2018, for conduct related to groping on public transportation. He was on probation for the January 2018 conviction for victimizing at least four women while riding the Metro Red Line. In each of those incidents, Linder approached the victims and grabbed their breasts, buttocks or other body parts, according to Deputy City Attorney Brad Rothenberg.

Linder's prior convictions involved groping female bus riders in North Hollywood, Hollywood, Mid-City, Culver City, Norwalk, West Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"Passengers on our public transit systems must be safe," City Attorney Mike Feuer said late last year. "The defendant's actions are outrageous and deplorable. We will do everything we can to hold him accountable and protect transit riders."

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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